


As close as it gets

by sunnylil



Series: A Place To Feel At Home [2]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Domestic Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Foster Care, Ian Gallagher Loves Mickey Milkovich, M/M, Mickey Milkovich Loves Ian Gallagher, Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-16
Updated: 2018-10-16
Packaged: 2019-08-03 05:43:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,418
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16320203
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunnylil/pseuds/sunnylil
Summary: Hailey finally gets her tattoo, so does Ian.





	As close as it gets

The house on Trumbull Ave wasn’t her home.

Her home was on the third floor in one of the Dearborn Home buildings. At least it has been until that day when the cops banged at the door and took her mom.

But the house n Trumbull Ave was a place where she felt safe. She knew that the people in there had her back. She knew what it was like to live somewhere where people didn’t have your back and you were in constant fight or flight mode, all the time. Even if the pamphlet said something about a _loving, nourishing environment._

The people she has been living with in that house on Trumbull Ave loved her. She could tell in the way they laughed about the stories she told over dinner or in the way that there was a lunch bag waiting for her on the counter every single school day without fail (even if they fought the night before.)

She could tell in the way Mickey took her to the boxing gym every single Tuesday, even if he had the most exhausting day at work. She could tell in the way Ian taught her how to drive without losing his patience, even after she almost had an accident. She could tell in the way Yevgeny hugged her every time he came back after a week with his mama and in the way they fought over the simplest things.

It’s been seven months and three days since Mrs Adams brought her into her new foster home.

And even if it wasn’t her home, she did love them, too.

She led Yevgeny win at Mario Cart more often than not. She got up on the weekends to make pancakes for breakfast. She cried and raged when they didn’t let her go on a week-long road trip to the East Coast with Zoey. She told them she would move out the day she turned eighteen, because after all, nothing held her here and the whole set up was just means to an end since she was a minor. She raged – and she calmed down. She yelled at them and even though they weren’t happy about it, they didn’t waver. They didn’t tell her to leave. And she apologized the next day. It wasn’t just means to an end. It was more. It was love.

 

* * *

 

“We’re almost there.” Ian cranes his neck to smile at her from the passenger seat. “Still time to change your mind.”

“I’m good.” She looks out of the window at the streets of Indianapolis, trying to ignore the growing anxiety in the pit of her stomach.

Mickey pulls up in front of the tattoo studio and they get out of the car. The autumn air gets colder every day and Hailey shivers. Mickey places a hand on her shoulder and gently nudges her towards the entrance.

Inside, a young woman with an impressing sleeve greets her.

“We have an appointment. Actually, two. One for her,” Ian points towards Hailey, “And one for me.”

“What? Why didn’t you tell me?,” Hailey cries out, but he just smiles at her and shrugs.

“Are you over 18? If you not, you have to come back with your parent or legal guardian.”

“They’re already here.”

 

* * *

 

It hurts less than she thought it would. Mickey’s sitting next to her tattoo chair and distracts her with words she doesn’t really pay attention to. His eyes flicker over to the other chair every now and then, where Ian took off his shirt and the artist works on the ribcage that hasn’t been inked yet.

Love is a strange concept. Hailey has never witnessed a relationship the way they are shown in those blockbuster rom-coms. The man she shares a gene pool with took off a few weeks after her birth. Her mother has been in and out of relationships, never staying single for long. Most of those men didn’t give a shit about Hailey and none of them stuck around for the things dads, or step-dads are supposed to do. The latest boyfriend let her mom take the fall for him. That definitely wasn’t love.

The love she witnessed between Ian and Mickey wasn’t the way it’s shown on TV either. They don’t declare their love for each other every day. Not in words, anyway. They don’t need to. You only have to be around them for a while to feel that they would die for each other. It wasn’t shown through lengthy declarations of love but through simple gestures. Ian knew the exact moment when he could start to talk to his husband in the morning and get an actual answer instead of a one-finger-salute. Mickey made pancakes exactly the way his husband liked. They communicated without words in a way that drove Hailey insane most of the time. They loved each other in a way Hailey hoped she would be loved one day.

“There you go.” The artist smiles at her and Hailey glances down at the arrow on her left wrist.

Ian’s still on the chair, so they go over to keep him company.

“What’s it gonna be?”

“You know the pararescue creed? _It is my duty as a Pararescueman to save lives and to aid the injured. I will be prepared at all times to perform my assigned duties quickly and efficiently, placing these duties before personal desires and comforts. These things I do, that others may live.“_

Hailey gasps at him.

“That’s gonna take ages, dude.”

“No, not all of it. God, no! Just the last part. _That others may life_ -”

“And you’re still not done yet?”

“Fuck’s sake, let him finish talking, maybe?” Mickey huffs.

“Anyway. _That others may life_ , and above the star of life in the middle of a EKG line.”

Mickey rolls his eyes at the last part, while hiding a smile.

“Am I missing something?”

“You’re missing that he’s the sappiest person on earth, yes.”

“A lot of people have an EKG line as tattoo, Mick.”

“That doesn’t make it any better.”

Ian looks at Hailey. “He’s mad because an EKG line has ups and downs and I think that’s the perfect symbolism why I became an EMT in the first place. You know, after not being able to go to the army anymore.”

“Oh. Oh! That’s-“

“Sappy as fuck, right?”

 

* * *

 

“Let’s get something to eat before we head back, I’m fucking starving after holding your hands and putting up with your whining.”

Ian and Hailey both protest at the whining part, but food is indeed a good idea. There’s a diner in the same street as the tattoo parlour, so they go there.

“So an arrow, huh?,” Ian asks after they ordered, “Needs to be pulled back to be shot and shit? That’s a great yearbook quote.”

Hailey nods, while rolling her eyes simultaneously.

“Fuck U-Up is a great year book quote, too.” Mickey grins.

“Yeah I think I like that one more. It’s more authentic,” she laughs and snatches one of Mickey’s fries.

For a while they eat in silence, Hailey keeps looking at her wrist. She really went through with it. Ian catches her glance and winks.

 

* * *

 

They listen to a pretty random playlist on the way home ( _Depeche Mode_ is followed by _ACDC_ is followed by _blink-182_ ) and Hailey is already thinking about her next tattoo when Mickey pulls up at a parking lot.

“What’s going on?”

He turns around to face her.

“We’re only one hour away. You wanna drive the remaining distance?”

“W-what?”

“You need all the practice you can get. Come on, it’s been three weeks since you passed. You got this.” He gives her a reassuring smile.

Moments later she finds herself in the driver’s seat, taking a deep breath.

“No need to be nervous. I know you got this,” Ian nods and she starts the car.

 

The sun is already setting when they arrive in Chicago. Hailey leans her head against the seat after the parked the car and switched of the engine.

“See? No car crash, we all survived and it didn’t take ages,” Mickey squeezes her shoulder.

“Good job, Hailey. You gonna drive me to work tomorrow?”

“Don’t you have the 7am shift?,” she scowls, “You wish!”

 

It’s been seven months and three days since Ms. Adams decided that Ian and Mickey should take in their first foster daughter. The house on Trumbull Ave isn’t her home. But it’s as close as it can be in a house without her mom.

**Author's Note:**

> Inspiration for Ian's tattoo: https://i.pinimg.com/736x/a0/51/59/a051594e60700435833134341e2d6065--paramedic-tattoo-symbols-tattoos.jpg


End file.
